Hero Factory is an animated television series based on the Lego toy series of the same name and produced by Threshold Animation Studios for The Lego Group and Geely. The series revolves around the Hero Factory, a crime-fighting organization that manufacture robotic heroes to fight and apprehend criminals across the galaxy and protect a similarly robotic populace. The main characters are a group of heroes that make up Team Alpha 1, the Hero Factory's most successful and praised team.
The series originally premiered as a four-part mini-series on September 20, 2010, on Nicktoons; further episodes followed as the theme continued as a toy line until its discontinuation in 2014.
Overview Hero Factory revolves around the fictional organization of the same name that manufactures robots known as Heroes and trains them to capture criminals and protect a similarly robotic populace, thereby maintaining order across the galaxy. Each Hero is unique, with their own distinct personalities and equipment, and the Heroes are arranged into teams. Hero Factory's headquarters are based in a towering skyscraper centred in the fictional Makuhero City on an asteroid-like planet.
The series centers on the missions and Heroes of the Alpha 1 Team, the most praised and experienced team at the Hero Factory. Led by veteran Hero Preston Stormer, the team comprises senior members Dunkan Bulk and Jimi Stringer, original rookies and later fully fledged teammates William Furno, Mark Surge and Natalie Breez, and new rookies Julius Nex, Nathan Evo and Daniel Rocka. All Heroes refer to each other by their last name.
From the episode "Ordeal of Fire" onward, the Heroes are upgraded into new "2.0" forms as part of a new Hero building system. The forms became the basis for subsequent upgrades; Heroes would be provided with new armor, weapons and gadgets for the mission at hand based on the environment they would have to enter or the lethalness of a villain.
Characters Heroes Preston Stormer is the no-nonsense leader of Alpha 1, plagued by his failure in a past mission, and demanding in his expectations of all team members. A skilled Hero, Stormer has experienced hundreds of battles, and is a natural leader. He is very competitive, and specifically targeted the post of Alpha 1 leader because he believed he would excel in it. After the incident with Von Ness, Stormer is determined that no rookie would ever put a mission in jeopardy again and is especially harsh on them as a result; many prior rookies under his command either gave up or were transferred out. The incident also plagued him with feelings of guilt, and he often blames himself for things that go wrong with missions. Stormer is disinterested in popularity and believes that he should not receive praise for simply doing his job. Stormer is one of the main protagonists of the series. Dunkan Bulk is a physically imposing, powerful senior Alpha 1 member. Bulk's artificial intelligence is less developed than others, which he sometimes feels self-conscious about, but he makes up for this intelligence deficiency with sheer power. He is able to withstand blows that would destroy armored vehicles. He is reputed to be one of the Hero Factory's strongest active Heroes. Bulk is always ready for a mission, and enjoys fighting for the Hero Factory as much as he enjoys the actual fighting itself. He has been actively working to develop his intelligence, increasing his amount of reading and vocabulary. Jimi Stringer is a philosophical and musically inclined veteran of Alpha 1, who incorporates sound-based functions into his weaponry. Stringer enjoys fighting for the Hero Factory cause, but is very laid-back, and cool under pressure during missions. This attitude occasionally annoys his teammates, but helps him in dealing with the stressful situations they get into. Unlike the other members of the Alpha 1 Team, Stringer likes working with rookie Heroes. He has a passion for music, and applies his casual, philosophical attitude about fighting toward lyric composition as well. William Furno was once a reckless and ambitious, handsome rookie Hero assigned to Alpha 1, now a valuable team member. As a rookie, Furno was impatient but passionate, and eager to prove himself, especially to team leader Stormer. He was also overconfident, and believed he had the skill to succeed at any task. This self-confidence forced him to push his own limits in order to succeed at harder tasks, even during his downtime. Time and missions have tempered his overconfidence, though he is still very eager. His attitude brought him into conflict with the similarly headstrong new rookie on the team Rocka, who was modeled after Furno himself, though Furno grew to accept the rookie. He had also attempted to cultivate leadership qualities, offering his tutelage to rookie Nathan Evo. He is promoted to the rank of team commander in the "Brain Attack" episode, and put in charge of multiple Hero teams, including Alpha 1 during their against the Brain in Makuhero City. His model, at the time of creation, was the newest and most up-to-date one available. His Hero Core is thought to be the purest in existence. Furno is one of the main protagonists of the series. Mark Surge is one of Team Alpha 1's youngest, a temperamental hot-head working to overcome a secret insecurity. Though he is convinced that something went wrong with his construction, Surge is nonetheless an able, if occasionally clumsy, Hero. Like his fellow rookie teammates, he was built with experimental designs, but resented the constant examination this required. He is known to be defiant and emotional, often attempting to be rational, but is easily set off. He is also very strong, but his inexperience leads to an inability to use it properly all the time. He thoroughly enjoys going on action-oriented missions, rarely content to be involved with community affairs. Surge also struggles with fears that he is secretly evil and will become a villain, like Von Nebula. Although he has dealt with this fear directly over the course of his Hero career, Surge still deals with the insecurity, and often throws himself into action to compensate. Natalie Breez is the sole female member of Alpha 1. Brash in her dealings with her teammates, but with a connection to nature. Breez has a talent for remaining cool and collected under pressure. She cares deeply for innocent lives everywhere, but frequently insists that she has no romantic interest in any of her teammates, and that their job as Heroes is what is most important to her, though there are hints of romance between her and Furno. She is confident in her own ability and refuses to be protected by others. Diplomatic in nature, Breez is a fierce fighter when it comes to defending innocents, and will go out of her way to ensure citizen safety during missions. Breez has the ability to communicate with all known types of animals due to a program in her Hero Core, which also allows her to sense disturbances in nature. She is also skilled in knife and hook throwing, which featured prominently in her 2.0 training. Nathan Evo is an introspective rookie Hero working with the team, who emphasizes the use of heavy artillery in missions. Initially calm and quiet, Evo debuted as an expert at weaponry. During his initial missions, he meditates before a fight to stimulate himself and sharpen his reflexes. As a rookie on the Alpha 1 team, he faces pressures to live up to team leader Stormer, but with the assistance of his other teammates, he overcomes self-doubt and insecurity in order to be a worthwhile ally and Hero. Later, Evo develops an enthusiasm for all types technology, embracing the Battle Machines used in Antropolis City. Evo is born with the 2.0 Upgrade. Julius Nex is the socially nuanced and technologically gifted head of Hero Outreach and a rookie on Alpha 1, with a love for gadgetry. He is enthusiastic, highly skilled in the nuances of his body, has amazing flexibility, and hypersensitive senses. He is a communication expert, able to interface with nearly any system. For "Mission: Savage Planet", he was programmed with instinct algorithms based on those of a saber-toothed tiger. Like Evo, Nex is born with the 2.0 Upgrade. Once, as he was falling, (in Savage Planet), he cries out, "Tell Breez I loved her!" shocking viewers. So, yes, he has a crush on Breez :) Daniel Rocka is the headstrong new rookie of the team, also a member of the Hero Recon Team, a special covert division of Hero Factory. Rocka's outlook is very much like a younger Furno's; he is extremely self-assured and headstrong, willing to immediately take on a challenge without a thought to his own limitations. This confidence causes him to clash with Furno, but the two eventually settle their differences. His experience in the training sphere has given him a diverse skill-set. As a member of the Recon Team, he is also versed in secrecy and espionage teachings. Rocka specializes in technology, and excels in developing new software applications and devices. Like Evo and Nex, Rocka is born with the 2.0 Upgrade. He is one of the main protagonists of the series.
Villains Von Nebula - an evil mastermind who mastered the manipulation of black holes through a technological staff he developed. He was once a Hero himself, named Von Ness, but cowardly abandoned his teammate Stormer after a mission gone wrong. Descending down a warped path of villainy, he hires the most dangerous villains in the galaxy so that he can get his revenge on Stormer, blaming him for his own failures and insecurities as a hero. After a fight with Stormer and Furno he is defeated, and they trap him inside his own black hole staff, placing it inside prison storage to keep it under watch. Voltix then uses the black hole staff to cause a villain breakout, leading the Heroes to conclude that Von Nebula wanted the staff to be placed inside Hero Factory for a grander scheme. His whereabouts are now unknown. XPlode - a villain who can fire explosive spikes out of his armor. He and his partner Rotor were hired by Von Nebula. While trying to steal explosives from two transports, the Heroes stop them; in the second time, Rotor is captured, but XPlode flees the scene. Later, he teams up with Thunder, Corroder and Meltdown to destroy the Heroes. After the Heroes beat the villains, XPlode fires his explosives at the Heroes, but they managed to survive his attack. XPlode is knocked out and he and the other villains are arrested for their crimes. XPlode is involved in the Breakout, but is recaptured. He is a coward, due to him leaving Rotor behind on their robberies. Meltdown - a sophisticated thug known for using toxins and poisons to control targets. The Heroes rush to find a cure after Preston Stormer is hit by Meltdown's fast-acting toxin while investigating a distress signal on a prison planet. Corroder - a maniacal armed with corrosive acid. He takes great pleasure in trying to melt his enemies to a puddle, but he is also a coward who will flee if the situation isn’t to his advantage. He can use his claw-like weapons called Acid Blasters to move as a quadruped. Thunder - a powerful bruiser equipped with a deadly nebula gas weapon given to him by Von Nebula. He nearly destroyed Stormer with it, but the hero was saved by his reinforced armor given by Quadal. Rotor - a dull, brutish villain who sports built-in helicopter blades, which he both uses to fly and as a spinning weapon. He was partners with XPlode, but when XPlode abandoned him, he became the first villain ever taken down by Furno. Vapor - This villain did not appear in the television series physically for an unknown reason, possibly due to budget issues, but he was referenced in a Wanted poster in a cameo in "The Enemy Within". he became the second villain ever taken down by Bulk. Fire Lord - the leader of the Fire Villains. Jetbug Drilldozer Nitroblast